Tamping tool

ABSTRACT

A tool for tamping and aligning tobacco in a cigarette molding machine comprising in integrated combination a tamp base, an upright fingergrip member and a tapered insertion member extending from the vertical end of the fingergrip member.

United States Patent 1 1 ORear 51 May 15, 1973 TAMPING TOOL [56]References Cited [75] Inventor: William C. ORear, Pico Rivera, UNITEDSTATES PATENTS v 1,207,375 12/1916 Cramer ..131 247 X [73] Assignee: MaxW. Perkins, Whittier, Calif. 3 2,087,742 7/1937 Slepian .131/243 X partinterest Primary ExaminerRbert W. Michell [22] May 1971 AssistantExaminerJohn F. Pitrelli [21] App]. No.: 145,367 Attorney- Nilsson,Robbins, Wills & Berliner [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl ..l3l/l70 R, 131/70,131/247 [51] Int. Cl ..A24f 47/00 A tool for p g and gnmg tobacco 1n acigarette [58] Field of Search ..131/ 247 "101mg machine mPrisingintegrated wmbina" tion a temp base, an upright fingergrip member and atapered insertion member extending from the vertical end of thefingergrip member.

10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHAHSIQIS 3 INVENTOR.

MAL/AMA L. 0 76am, BY

TAMPING TOOL FIELD OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION In a modern version of a portable, single unit cigarettemaking machine, tobacco is placed within a mold chamber having a as along dimension the length of the tobacco portion of a cigarette andhaving an end portion formed to receive a filter plug. A leveredmechanism is then utilized to mold the tobacco and filter plug to aproper cylinder thickness. An ejection component slides the product intoan aligned envelope of cigarette paper. While such a device is easier touse than the traditional roller mechanisms, if insufficient tobacco isplaced in the mold the cigarette produced is loosely packed resulting ina poor smoke. In the traditional roller mechanism, the cigarettesproduced are uniformly dense, the width of the cigarette varying withthe amount of tobacco placed on the roller. However, in the modern moldmachine as described, the cigarette paper envelopes are of uniformdiameter and cannot be narrowed to compensate for slack. Accordingly, itis desirable to tightly pack tobacco within the mold. However, whentobacco is merely spread in the mold and tamped with the fingers, thedensity tends to vary along the length of the cigarette. Furthermore, inorder to place sufficient tobacco in the mold, it is found that when themold is closed, a substantial amount of tobacco pieces have portionsleft outside the mold. Many such pieces are continuation of strandswhich have been trapped within the mold and during ejection of themolded tobacco the excluded portions drag on the included portionsresulting in a disturbance of the even distribution of the tobacco.Furthermore, the excluded portions constitute tobacco which is notutilized and therefore is wasted.

The present invention provides a tool for use with such molding machinesfor eliminating the aforementioned problems and for enabling wellpacked, uniformly dense cigarettes to be repeatedly prepared with aminimum of concentration on the part of the user. In particular, thepresent invention provides a tamping and aligning tool in which thefunctional components are integrated into a single tool of very simpleconstruction but which functions altogether in a manner not entirelyobtainable with its components separated.

Specifically, a tool isprovided for tamping and aligning tobacco in acigarette molding machine, comprising in integrated combination a tampbase, a fingergrip member upright from the base and an insertion memberextending from the vertical end of the fingergrip member. The base has alength of about one-half to one times the length of the tobacco portionof a fully formed cigarette and a width of about one to two times thewidth of a cigarette. The fingergrip member has sufficient verticalextent from the base for grasping between a users fingers. The insertionmember is tapered from the fingergrip member to form a relatively narrowouter edge.

In use, the fingergrip member is held with the tamp base down andsufficient tobacco is placed within the mold to provide a densecigarette when entirely utilized. The base is then inserted into themold and the tobacco tamped uniformly with one or two strokes. The moldis then closed and, during closing, the tool is turned around, thefingers now grasping the base and the insertion member is utilized tosweep pieces of tobacco within the mold as it is being closed so thatupon closing there is no tobacco outside of the mold, but all of thetobacco is uniformly distributed within the mold. The result is aperfectly formed, uniform density cigarette.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of aportable, single unit mold machine and tamping tool, the mold machineincluding tobacco and a filter plug, cut away for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the mold machine and tamping tool,taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, in the direction of the arrows, but withthe tamping tool inserted within the mold cavity;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the mold machine and tamping tool in theprocess of closing the mold machine and with the tamping tool reversedand positioned for a sweeping action;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 3, in thedirection of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view, partially cut away, of the cigarette machineduring ejection of a tobacco plug; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an alternative tamping tool structure inaccordance with this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION As required, details of illustrative embodiments ofthe invention are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood thatthese embodiments merely exemplify the invention which may take fonnsdifferent from the specific illustrative embodiments disclosed.Therefore, specific illustrative embodiments are not necessarily to beinterpreted as limiting, but as a basis for the claims. Furthermore,while the invention will be described with respect to a molding machineof specific structure, it is to be understood that the molding machineper se forms no part of this invention and that the invention can beutilized with molding machines of other, like construction.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a tobacco molding machine10, including a housing defining a mold chamber 12 for the tobacco 14,and a compartment 16 in communication with the tobacco chamber 12, inwhich a filter plug 18 is disposed. The machine includes a movable moldhalf 20 and connecting lever mechanism 22 for moving the mold half 20into the mold cavity 12, decreasing the mold cavity until it assumes thesize and shape of a fully formed cigarette (See FIG. 4).

The tamping tool comprises a base 24, a fingergrip member 26 uprightfrom the base, and an insertion member 28 extending from the verticalend of the fingergrip member 26. The base has a length of about onehalfto one times the length of the tobacco portion of a fully formedcigarette and a width of about one to two times the width of aciagrette. The fingergrip member extends from the base a sufficientvertical extent for grasping between a users fingers so that the basemay be placed within the mold cavity 12 and the tobacco therein tampeddownwardly to form a dense, tightly packed plug of tobacco. By makingthe base at least one-half the length of the tobacco portion of thecigarette, no more than two tamping actions need be used.

In this particular embodiment, the base has a length which issubstantially the length of the tobacco portion and therefore a singletamping action only need be used and this aids in making a uniformlypacked cigarette. The width of the base depends upon the width of themold cavity, but the base generally should be about one to two times thewidth of the cigarette. In terms of actual measurement, the base isabout 3.5 8 centimeters in length and about 0.5 1.6 centimeters inWidth, depending on the particular dimensions of the molding machine.The particular base illustrated is about 7 centimeters in length andabout 1 centimeter in width.

The upright member is advantageously disposed cen trally on the base sothat uniform pressure can be applied along the entire length of the base24 by simply pushing down on the upright member 26. In particular, theupright member is about 1 10 centimeters long, with a comfortable rangebeing about 3 7 centimeters.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, after the tobacco has been properlytamped into the chamber 12, the mold half is pushed forward by means ofthe mechanism 22 so that the mold cavity is almost completely covered,leaving only a slit 30. At this stage, a large number of tobacco pieceshave been caused to be moved upwardly out of the mold cavity as a resultof the lateral pressure while the mold half 20 is moved within thecavity 12. These tobacco pieces lay on top of the exposed mold half 20and some of the pieces have continued portions within the mold cavity.These pieces ordinarily would cause a drag on the tobacco within themold cavity during ejection of the tobacco plug, causing non-uniformityalong the cigarette length. In order to prevent such drag fromoccurring, and to save tobacco, the tamping tool is inverted, as shown,so that the insertion member 28 is in a downward position. The insertionmember is tapered to form a relatively narrow outer edge 32, generallyless than about 0.2 centimeters thick, and is used, as illustrated, tosweep tobacco pieces into the mold cavity and to free the tobacco piecesfrom the edge of the mold half 20 as the mold half 20 is being closed.

Referring now to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the component defining themold cavity 12, opposite the mold half 20 is a movable member 34 havinga generally half cylindrical cross section (see FIGS. 3 and 4) and atapered end 36. The tapered end 36 extends into a tapered guide member38 on which is placed an envelope 40 of cigarette paper. A lever 42 isconnected to the rear end of the half cylindrical mold half 36 and ispushed in the direction of the arrow 44 to carry the tobacco plug out ofthe machine and into the waiting envelope 40, whereupon a fully formedcigarette is obtained.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an alternate embodiment is disclosed which isvery similar to the embodiment referred to above in terms of dimensions,but in this particular embodiment, the base 46, fingergrip member 48 andinsertion member 50 are formed as a single unit of one-piececonstruction for example, of injection molded plastic.

I claim:

1. A tool for tamping and aligning tobacco in a cigarette moldingmachine, comprising in integrated combination:

an elongate tamp base having uniform length and width to define asubstantially planar, rectangular tamping surface, said surface beingabout one-half to one times the length of the tobacco portion of a fullyformed cigarette and said width being about one to two times the widthof said cigarette;

a fingergrip member upright from said base of sufficient vertical extenttherefrom for grasping between a users fingers; and

an insertion member extending from the vertical end of said fingergripmember and tapered to form a relatively narrow outer edge.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said fingergrip memberhas substantially greater length than width.

3. The invention according to claim 1 in which said fingergrip member issubstantially narrower than said base along the long dimension of saidbase.

4. The invention according to claim 3 in which said fingergrip member isdisposed centrally on said base.

5. The invention according to claim 1 in which said tool is formed as asingle unit of one-piece construction.

6. The invention according to claim 1 in which the outer edge of saidinsertion member extends along a plane parallel to the plane of saidtamping surface.

7. The invention according to claim 1 in which said base is about 3.5 8centimeters in length and about 0.5 1.6 centimeters in width.

8. The invention according to claim 7 in which said fingergrip member isabout l-lO centimeters long.

9. The invention according to claim 7 in which the outer edge of saidinsertion member is less than about 0.2 centimeters thick.

10. The invention according to claim 7 in which said fingergrip memberis about l-lO centimeters long, about Vz-Z centimeters wide and iscentrally disposed on said base, the outer edge of said insertion memberis less than about 0.2 centimeters thick and extends along a planeparallel to the plane of said tamping surface.

1. A tool for tamping and aligning tobacco in a cigarette moldingmachine, comprising in integrated combination: an elongate tamp basehaving uniform length and width to define a substantially planar,rectangular tamping surface, said surface being about one-half to onetimes the length of the tobacco portion of a fully formed cigarette andsaid width being about one to two times the width of said cigarette; afingergrip member upright from said base of sufficient vertical extenttherefrom for grasping between a user''s fingers; and an insertionmember extending from the vertical end of said fingergrip member andtapered to form a relatively narrow outer edge.
 2. The inventionaccording to claim 1 in which said fingergrip member has substantiallygreater length than width.
 3. The invention according to claim 1 inwhich said fingergrip member is substantially narrower than said basealong the long dimension of said base.
 4. The invention according toclaim 3 in which said fingergrip member is disposed centrally on saidbase.
 5. The invention according to claim 1 in which said tool is formedas a single unit of one-piece construction.
 6. The invention accordingto claim 1 in which the outer edge of said insertion member extendsalong a plane parallel to the plane of said tamping surface.
 7. Theinvention according to claim 1 in which said base is about 3.5 - 8centimeters in length and about 0.5 - 1.6 centimeters in width.
 8. THeinvention according to claim 7 in which said fingergrip member is about1-10 centimeters long.
 9. The invention according to claim 7 in whichthe outer edge of said insertion member is less than about 0.2centimeters thick.
 10. The invention according to claim 7 in which saidfingergrip member is about 1-10 centimeters long, about 1/2 -2centimeters wide and is centrally disposed on said base, the outer edgeof said insertion member is less than about 0.2 centimeters thick andextends along a plane parallel to the plane of said tamping surface.